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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 397 records · Page 22

HEMP Testing of Substation Yard Circuit Breaker Control and Protective Relay Circuits

There are concerns about the effects of High-Altitude Electromagnetic Pulses (HEMP) on the electric power grid. Activities to date tested and analyzed vulnerability of digital protective relays (DPRs) used in power substations, but the effect of HEMP on the greater substation environment is not well known. This work establishes a method of testing the vulnerability of circuit breaker control and protective relay circuits to the radiated E1 pulse associated with HEMP based on coupling to the cables in a substation yard. Two DPRs from Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. were independently tested. The test setup also included a typical cable in a substation yard with return plane to emulate the ground grid and other ground conductors near the yard cable, cabinetry housing the installed DPRs, station battery and battery charger, terminal block elements, and a breaker simulator to emulate a substation yard configuration. The DPRs were powered from the station battery and the transformer inputs energized with a three-phase source to maintain typical operating conditions during the tests. Vulnerability testing consisted of a conducted E1 pulse injected into the center of the yard cable of the DPR circuits. Current measurements on the yard cable and DPR inputs indicated significant attenuation of the conducted pulse arriving at the control house equipment from the emulated substation yard. This reduction was quantified with respect to the equivalent open-circuit voltage on the yard cable. No equipment damage or undesired operation occurred on the tested circuits for values below 180 kV, which is significantly higher than the anticipated coupling to a substation yard cable.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Power Hardware-in-the-Loop Evaluation of PV Inverter Grid Support on Hawaiian Electric Feeders

As more grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) inverters become compliant with evolving interconnections requirements, there is increased interest from utilities in understanding how to best deploy advanced grid-support functions (GSF) in the field. One efficient and cost-effective method to examine such deployment options is to leverage power hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL) testing methods, which combine the fidelity of hardware tests with the flexibility of computer simulation. This paper summarizes a study wherein two Hawaiian Electric feeder models were converted to real-time models using an OPAL-RT real-time digital testing platform, and integrated with models of GSF capable PV inverters based on characterization test data. The integrated model was subsequently used in PHIL testing to evaluate the effects of different fixed power factor and volt-watt control settings on voltage regulation of the selected feeders using physical inverters. Selected results are presented in this paper, and complete results of this study were provided as inputs for field deployment and technical interconnection requirements for grid-connected PV inverters on the Hawaiian Islands.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Structure Damage Simulations Accounting for Inertial Effects and Impact and Optimization of Grid-Stiffened Non-Circular Shells

The goal of this research project is to develop modelling and analysis strategy for the penetration of aluminium plates impacted by titanium impactors. Finite element analysis is used to study the penetration of aluminium plates impacted by titanium impactors in order to study the effect of such uncontained engine debris impacts on aircraft-like skin panels. LS-DYNA3D) is used in the simulations to model the impactor, test fixture frame and target barrier plate. The effects of mesh refinement, contact modeling, and impactor initial velocity and orientation were studied. The research project also includes development of a design tool for optimum design of grid-stiffened non-circular shells or panels subjected to buckling.

Mei, Chuh↗

Quantum Networks for Resilient Power Grids: Theory and Simulated Evaluation

Quantum networks are considered the future of secure communication in the coming quantum era. Yet there lack significant efforts on developing practical quantum networks for power grids. Here, in this paper, we establish a quantum network-based power grid (QNetGrid) framework and develops a real-time, reliable, flexible, programmable, and cost-effective QNetGrid software testbed containing repeater-based quantum communication, quantum routing, real software-defined networking (SDN) switches, and real-time networked microgrids (NMs) operations. It makes the following contributions: 1) a repeater and routing based quantum network simulator (QNSim) is developed, 2) repeaters with and without quantum memories are respectively simulated in QNSim, 3) different routing scenarios in QNetGrid are investigated, 4) a real-time QNetGrid software testbed is built in RTDS incorporating QNSim and real SDN switches, and 5) various test cases are designed, and experimental results produced with the QNetGrid testbed provide valuable insights for building quantum networks in power grids.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

An efficient hybrid downscaling framework to estimate high-resolution river hydrodynamics

Flow depth and velocity are the most important hydrodynamic variables that govern various river functions, including water resources, navigation, sediment transport, and biogeochemical cycling. Existing high-resolution flow depth simulations rely on either computationally expensive river hydrodynamic models (RHMs) or data-driven models with formidable training costs, whereas data-driven modeling of flow velocity has rarely been explored. Here, using the hybrid Low-fidelity, Spatial analysis, and Gaussian process learning (LSG) model, we developed a downscaling approach to construct high-resolution flow depth and velocity from a two-dimensional (2-D) RHM simulation at coarse resolution. The LSG models were trained and tested in an urban watershed in Houston using two different hurricane-driven flood events. The high-resolution (as fine as 30 m resolution) and low-resolution (mostly 1000 m resolution) meshes include 664 724 and 14 536 grid cells, respectively. The results showed that through downscaling, the simulation errors were reduced to less than one-fourth and one-third of the errors of the low-resolution 2-D RHM for flow depth and velocity, respectively. Our analysis further revealed that the dominant uncertainty sources of the downscaled hydrodynamics are different, with flow velocity dominated by the dimensionality reduction error, which we reduced by using a regionalized training procedure. The downscaling approach achieves an 84-fold acceleration in computational time compared to the high-resolution 2-D RHM, making high-fidelity ensemble flood modeling feasible. More importantly, the developed method provides an opportunity to couple large-scale hydrodynamical processes with local physical, chemical, and biological processes in river models.

Tan, Zeli [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (↗

Developing a PSCAD Model of the Reduced 240-Bus WECC Test System: Preprint

Fast-acting controls of inverter-based resources (IBR) introduce unprecedented dynamics to bulk power systems and island power grids, especially the high-frequency dynamics ranging from $>5$ Hz to hundreds of Hz. These oscillatory stability problems cannot be captured by the phasor domain simulations, e.g., in PSS/E, Powerworld and TSAT, due to insufficient modeling. Instead, they should be studied by electromagnetic transient (EMT) simulations by using proper EMT dynamic models. This paper develops and validates the PSCAD model of the reduced 240-bus Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) test system. The PSCAD model will be released to the public, which can be used by both academia and power industry practitioners for studying the fast dynamic problems without any Critical Energy/Electric Infrastructure Information (CEII).

240-bus WECC test system↗

Implementing multi-settlement decentralized electricity market design for transactive communities with imperfect communication

Recent advances in information and communication technologies and smart metering, provides strategic opportunities for ``prosumers" to reform their conventional energy practices towards more consumer-centric economies. From an operational perspective, managing power distribution networks is becoming more difficult with such active grid-edge systems providing limited to no visibility or control. Transactive Energy (TE) has been emerging as a key enabler towards effectively and efficiently integrating prosumers into competitive electricity markets. This work presents a transactive implementation of community-centric markets. A co-simulation framework is developed for evaluating the proposed market structure with high-fidelity models. Case studies on the IEEE-123 node test system demonstrate that community-centric transactive markets can enable communities of prosumers to operate collaboratively as grid-edge systems. The potential benefits of implementing community-centric TE systems are also illustrated.

Mukherjee, Monish↗

Transactive Implementation of Decentralized Electricity Market for Grid-Edge Systems

The electricity landscape is evolving towards more decentralized approaches due to the proliferation of distributed energy resources and the participation of increasingly smart consumers and producers (prosumers). Recent advances in information and communication technologies and smart metering, provides strategic opportunities for “prosumers” to reform their conventional energy practices towards more consumer-centric economies. From an operational perspective, managing power distribution networks is becoming more difficult with such active grid-edge systems providing limited to no visibility or control. Transactive Energy (TE) has been emerging as a key enabler towards effectively and efficiently integrating prosumers into competitive electricity markets. This work presents a transactive implementation of community-centric markets. A co-simulation framework is developed for evaluating the proposed market structure with high-fidelity models. Case studies on the IEEE-123 node test system demonstrate that community-centric transactive markets can enable communities of prosumers to operate collaboratively as grid-edge systems. The potential benefits of implementing community-centric TE systems are also illustrated.

transactive, microgrids, centralized market operat↗

Numerical simulations of fuel droplet flows using a Lagrangian triangular mesh

The incompressible, Lagrangian, triangular grid code, SPLISH, was converted for the study of flows in and around fuel droplets. This involved developing, testing and incorporating algorithms for surface tension and viscosity. The major features of the Lagrangian method and the algorithms are described. Benchmarks of the algorithms are given. Several calculations are presented for kerosene droplets in air. Finally, extensions which make the code compressible and three dimensional are discussed.

Fritts, M. J.↗

Effects of operator splitting and low Mach-number correction in turbulent mixing transition simulations

In this paper, transition and turbulence decay with the Taylor–Green vortex have been effectively used to demonstrate emulation of high Reynolds-number ( R e ) physical dissipation through numerical convective effects of various non-oscillatory finite-volume algorithms for implicit large eddy simulation (ILES), e.g. using the Godunov-based Eulerian adaptive mesh refinement code xRAGE. The inverse-chevron shock tube experiment simulations have been also used to assess xRAGE based ILES for shock driven turbulent mixing, compared with available simulation and laboratory data. The previous assessments are extended to evaluate new directionally-unsplit high-order algorithms in xRAGE, including a correction to address the well-known issue of excessive numerical diffusion of shock-capturing (e.g., Godunov-type) schemes for low Mach numbers. The unsplit options for hydrodynamics in xRAGE are discussed in detail, followed by fundamental tests with representative shock problems. Basic issues of transition to turbulence and turbulent mixing are discussed, and results of simulations of high- R e turbulent flow and mixing in canonical test cases are reported. Finally, compared to the directional-split cases, and for each grid resolution considered, unsplit results exhibit transition to turbulence with much higher effective R e —and significantly more so with the low Mach number correction.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Addition of tabulated equation of state and neutrino leakage support to illinoisgrmhd

Here we have added support for realistic, microphysical, finite-temperature equations of state (EOS) and neutrino physics via a leakage scheme to illinoisgrmhd, an open-source GRMHD code for dynamical spacetimes in the einstein toolkit. These new features are provided by two new, nrpy+-based codes: nrpyeos, which performs highly efficient EOS table lookups and interpolations, and nrpyleakage, which implements a new, adaptive mesh refinement (AMR)-capable neutrino leakage scheme in the einstein toolkit. We have performed a series of strenuous validation tests that demonstrate the robustness of these new codes, particularly on the Cartesian AMR grids provided by carpet. Furthermore, we show results from fully dynamical GRMHD simulations of single unmagnetized neutron stars, and magnetized binary neutron star mergers. This new version of illinoisgrmhd, as well as nrpyeos and nrpyleakage, is pedagogically documented in jupyter notebooks and fully open source. The codes will be proposed for inclusion in an upcoming version of the einstein toolkit.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Development of a Converter Based Microgrid Test Platform

To overcome the limitations of digital simulation (numerical oscillation, limited computing capability of processors, etc.), a converter-based hardware test-bed was developed at CURENT for real-time power grid emulation. However, distribution systems especially microgrids cannot be emulated and tested on the existing hardware test-bed. This paper develops a microgrid test-bed based on the existing hardware test-bed to enable controller testing for microgrids with dynamic boundary. The design and realization of the microgrid hardware test-bed are introduced. The experimental results of the microgrid controller tests are also provided.

Li, Dingrui↗

Remote Hardware-in-the-Loop Approach for Microgrid Controller Evaluation

Utilities have been installing microgrids because of the increased resilience and reliability advantages they may provide to the distribution system. A microgrid controller is a critical component in microgrids. It is of great benefit to derisk the installation of microgrid controllers before field deployment. Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing is used by controller developers and utilities to evaluate the controllers under stressful conditions. In this work, a microgrid control function developed by the Synchrophasor Grid Monitoring and Automation (SyGMA) laboratory at the University of California, San Diego is tested in a remote HIL (RHIL) setup. The digital real-time simulation of the detailed microgrid system was operated at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Energy Systems Integration Facility. Under such RHIL setup, successful controller operation is contingent on understanding and characterizing the communications channel and in particular network latencies. The novelty of this paper is the proposed use of a RHIL setup that leverages existing power system communications protocols to evaluate the controller in conjunction with the simulation capabilities of a remote facility. The work presented here will provide the complete setup of the HIL evaluation platform, the details of the communications protocols used by the setup for data transfer between the two organizations, test cases developed to evaluate the controller, and the results from the experiments.

controller hardware-in-the-loop↗

Topographic Effects on Radiation in the WRF Model with the Immersed Boundary Method: Implementation, Validation, and Application to Complex Terrain

Abstract Topographic effects on radiation, including both topographic shading and slope effects, are included in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model, and here they are made compatible with the immersed boundary method (IBM). IBM is an alternative method for representing complex terrain that reduces numerical errors over sloped terrain, thus extending the range of slopes that can be represented in WRF simulations. The implementation of topographic effects on radiation is validated by comparing land surface fluxes, as well as temperature and velocity fields, between idealized WRF simulations both with and without IBM. Following validation, the topographic shading implementation is tested in a semirealistic simulation of flow over Granite Mountain, Utah, where topographic shading is known to affect downslope flow development in the evening. The horizontal grid spacing is 50 m and the vertical grid spacing is approximately 8–27 m near the surface. Such a case would fail to run in WRF with its native terrain-following coordinates because of large local slope values reaching up to 55°. Good agreement is found between modeled surface energy budget components and observations from the Mountain Terrain Atmospheric Modeling and Observations (MATERHORN) program at a location on the east slope of Granite Mountain. In addition, the model captures large spatiotemporal inhomogeneities in the surface sensible heat flux that are important for the development of thermally driven flows over complex terrain.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

ARM shortwave spectrometers to study the clear-cloud transition zone and mixing processes

The proposed research is a collaborative effort between NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. While the NASA team focused on analyzing ground-based hyper-spectral radiance observations to understand cloud edge properties and their connection to mixing processes, the Hebrew University team tackled the problem through cloud modeling activities. By approximating the shortwave spectra in the cloud-clear transition zone as a linear combination of purely clear and purely cloudy spectra we can characterize the variations of cloud optical thickness and cloud droplet effective radius in the transition zone. When applying this method to the measurements of a ground-based shortwave spectroradiometer at the ARM’s SGP site, representing continental conditions, and MAGIC field campaign between Log Angeles, California and Honolulu, Hawaii, representing maritime scenarios, we found that cloud optical depth consistently decreases in both cases, but droplet size decreases much more substantially for the continental regime, suggesting different mixing processes for the continental and maritime conditions. The investigation and measurements of radiation clouds were coupled with a unique cloud modeling. A novel spectral bin microphysics was developed and implemented to the System of Atmospheric Modeling (SAM). In order to resolve cloud transition zones with high spatial gradients of microphysical variables a unique high resolution (10 m) was used in simulations. The model calculates droplet size distributions in each grid point. The model output was transferred to the NASA/GSFC team for utilization in radiative calculations and testing of both radiative algorithm and model representation.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Identification of the dynamics of a two-dimensional grid structure using least square lattice filters

The basic theory of least square lattice filters and their use in identification of structural dynamics systems is summarized. Thereafter, this theory is applied to a two-dimensional grid structure made of overlapping bars. Previously, this theory has been applied to an integral beam. System identification results are presented for both simulated and experimental tests and they are compared with those predicted using finite element modelling. The lattice filtering approach works well for simulated data based on finite element modelling. However, considerable discrepancy exists between estimates obtained from experimental data and the finite element analysis. It is believed that this discrepancy is the result of inadequacies in the finite element modelling to represent the damped motion of the laboratory apparatus.

Montgomery, R. C.↗

Simulation of the photogrammetric appendage structural dynamics experiment

The Photogrammetric Appendage Structural Dynamics Experiment (PASDE) uses six video cameras in the Space Shuttle cargo bay to measure vibration of the Russian Mir space station Kvant-ll solar array. It occurs on Shuttle/Mir docking mission STS-74 scheduled for launch in November 1995. The objective of PASDE is to demonstrate photogrammetric technology for measuring 'untargeted' spacecraft appendage structural dynamics. This paper discusses a pre-flight simulation test conducted in July 1995, focusing on the image processing aspects. The flight camera system recorded vibrations of a full-scale structural test article having grids of white lines on black background, similar in appearance to the Mir solar array. Using image correlation analysis, line intersections on the structure are tracked in the video recordings to resolutions of less than 0.1 pixel. Calibration and merging of multiple camera views generated 3-dimensional displacements from which structural modal parameters are then obtained.

Pappa, Richard S.↗

A Parallel, Finite-Volume Algorithm for Large-Eddy Simulation of Turbulent Flows

A parallel, finite-volume algorithm has been developed for large-eddy simulation (LES) of compressible turbulent flows. This algorithm includes piecewise linear least-square reconstruction, trilinear finite-element interpolation, Roe flux-difference splitting, and second-order MacCormack time marching. Parallel implementation is done using the message-passing programming model. In this paper, the numerical algorithm is described. To validate the numerical method for turbulence simulation, LES of fully developed turbulent flow in a square duct is performed for a Reynolds number of 320 based on the average friction velocity and the hydraulic diameter of the duct. Direct numerical simulation (DNS) results are available for this test case, and the accuracy of this algorithm for turbulence simulations can be ascertained by comparing the LES solutions with the DNS results. The effects of grid resolution, upwind numerical dissipation, and subgrid-scale dissipation on the accuracy of the LES are examined. Comparison with DNS results shows that the standard Roe flux-difference splitting dissipation adversely affects the accuracy of the turbulence simulation. For accurate turbulence simulations, only 3-5 percent of the standard Roe flux-difference splitting dissipation is needed.

Bui, Trong T.↗